1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to blower devices for sweeping, and, more particularly, to portable blower units for diverse applications wherein debris, such as leaves and other lightweight clutter, may be swept from a desired location by pressurized air.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There are several advantages to blower devices which utilize pressurized air to sweep small debris. For example, such devices enable the operator to save effort over the conventional method of manually sweeping such debris. Pressurized air may further be directed into crevices and hard-to-reach corners where a broom may not reach so as to sweep debris that would otherwise be inaccessible. Additionally, since pressurized air is less likely to miss the smaller particles that a broom might miss, blower devices are believed to be more thorough and efficient.
Accordingly, various blower devices have been proposed to accomplish sweeping by means of pressurized air. U.S. Pat. No. 3,099,243 to La Pour illustrates a blower for golf greens which has the limited application of sweeping leaves and debris from a golf green in preparation of putting a ball. This invention shows a fan mounted to a motor which directs air down a shaft to a head. The head is adapted with a slit to direct the air and a brush to sweep debris from the path of the golf ball to be putted. Due to this fan and motor design, it is believed that the apparatus disclosed in La Pour would suffer pressure losses and be inadequate for heavier applications.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,070,771 to Yakiwchuk discloses a portable snow blower for removing snow from the roofs of a building or vehicle. The disclosed apparatus shows a housing formed as a chute for exhausting air so that accumulations of snow may be removed by sliding the end of the chute along the roof. It is believed, however, that the apparatus disclosed in this patent would prove to be unwieldy and demonstate significant pressure losses due to the exhausting of air from the blower directly into the discharge chute.
Devices which are more portable and thereby overcome at least the unwieldiness of Yakiwchuk are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 1,666,350 to Pitt, U.S. Pat. No. 2,586,145 to Breuer, and in a device shown in the November 1978 issue of Popular Science on page 93 manufactured by Echo. While these devices are adequate to direct air into generally inaccessible corners and crevices, it is believed that they share a common disadvantage with La Pour and Yakiwchuk. That is, since all of these devices appear to propel air directly from the impeller to a discharge, they are believed to suffer significant pressure losses and irregularities in pressure. Hence, it is believed that wastefully greater power means are required to perform even moderate applications. This, in turn, increases both the expense and the bulk of the device and consumes more energy.
Hence, to provide an improved blower device for sweeping, it is desirable to provide an apparatus which suffers minimal pressure losses, thereby maintaining a substantially constant pressure output.